Early day again. We started with high hopes of climbing Mount Warning,
a local volcano. One would presume that naming a point "Point Danger"
would cause mariners to steer clear, however, as evidenced by numerous
memorial plaques, this wasn't sufficient, hence the name for the mountain.
Of course, that didn't work either. Fools are just too ingenious.We started out well enough, Brekkie at 7:30. Tristan dared to taste "Vegamite." We all found it vile, or as Tristan would say, "really nasty." Must be an acquired taste. Of course, the breakfast room is right by the swimming pool, and in spite of being a scant 50 meters from delicious clear blue ocean and about fifty acres of white sand beach, the kids had to frolic in the wretched little kidney shaped hole that passes for a swimming pool. Like they've never been in a pool before. Thankfully, we found a real live goanna before I got all the way through my eighth cup of coffee. And then we found another. And then, we left.
It was a really nice day so we decided to try Greenmount beech (one notch further north than yesterday's Rainbow beach) for a little surfing. Well, one wave turned into another and suddenly it was 10am and we still hadn't left. We were still considering the hike over lunch but gave up on the idea because it was really hot (80) and it gets dark early and wandering around in the dark waiting to die of dehydration, or deadly snake bite didn't appeal to anyone.
Instead we went to a nature park, the Fleay Park near Burleigh Heads.
Walking through a genuine mangrove forest on the way to the park.
Petting koalas. The name Koala means "doesn't drink." Koalas sleep
for 19 hours per day. The keeper said that these were quite acustomed to
human contact and were not stressed by the petting. If one sleeps 19 hours
I suspect that walking slowly across a log could be looked on as stressful.
Nicoline was sure that these wallabies would make fabulous pets. And
they are just so cute!
Another cute wallaby, thankfully too large for consideration
as a pet.
Cassowary.
This bloke followed Nicoline around grunting in a way which suggested
some sort of intestinal malaise.
This is a wombat, evidently in the grips of a titanic hangover. When Nicoline
poked it through the fence, it emitted an agonized wheeze and rolled over.
More than enough action for the day. Australians have a great legal
system. In America, these animals would be 8 feet away behind two layers of
fence. In Oz, there right next to you with a small sign which notes "these
animals may bite"
Feeding birds. The nonparrot birds are called frogmouths.
Those.
Gotta have a few crocks.
And roos.
Last thing we saw was not one but two Platypusses (or however one writes the plural of that). Since they, like 80% of the rest of Australian wildlife are nocturnal, we had to go into a cave-like exhibit. Sadly too dark for pictures, but I'll see if some of the video is salvagable.
Sunset over Burleigh Heads. Yes the Burleigh Heads. Oooh.
Aside from a tendency to wash the windows vigorously when I intend to turn left, I'm getting the hang of this right-hand drive stuff.
Signs of compromise.